Breakthroughs

Breakthroughs is a weekly series devoted to the latest innovations in health, science and technology — with a North Texas accent.

Explore special Breakthroughs multimedia projects: Surviving Ebola, a look at how Ebola made its way to Dallas and the lessons local hospitals and governments learned; Growing Up After Cancer, the journey of one North Texas boy with cancer; and The Broken Hip, an in-depth look at how a fall can change everything.

Scribes, who in times past worked on everything from translating religious texts to historical book keeping, are making a comeback in the doctor’s office. A growing number of physicians in Texas, and across the country, are hiring scribes to gather patient information and lighten their workload.

People living in one South Dallas neighborhood used to be three times as likely to die from diabetes-related complications than those in Dallas County overall. That grim statistic is changing, thanks to a prevention-focused health center at the Juanita J. Craft Institute.

Keeping track of your kids at a theme park or fair can be a challenge. That’s why Plano parent and engineer Willy Wu created a device called BuddyTag. There’s no GPS involved -- just a phone and a wristband.

If you’re looking to kick your health tech startup into high gear, Dallas-Fort Worth is a sweet spot to set up shop. Among DFW’s offerings: a roaring tech sector, startup meetups galore and top medical schools, to name a few.

A state district judge has ruled that Marlise Muñoz, the brain-dead North Texas woman who’s 22 weeks pregnant, must be removed from life support by 5 p.m. Monday.

The decision Friday afternoon comes after John Peter Smith Hospital declared publicly for the first time that Muñoz has indeed been brain dead since late November. The hospital also says the fetus inside Muñoz is "not viable."

For weeks, hospital officials had said she isn’t dead and that her condition is serious.

Texas has some of the country’s strictest laws against marijuana — and they date back nearly 100 years. But new polls show growing support across the state to legalize marijuana use. This weekend, drug reform advocates are gathering in Dallas for the first major drug policy conference of 2014, hosted by Mothers Against Teen Violence.

Nearly a quarter of the 2.2 million people who’ve enrolled in health coverage in the health law’s insurance marketplaces are young adults — the population that’s hardest to reach and yet most vital for the long-term financial stability of the new exchanges, the Obama administration announced Monday.

For the past decade, UTD professor Orlando Auciello has been obsessed with growing diamonds. But instead of trying to create the biggest gem possible, he’s been trying to craft the thinnest possible layer of diamond. This thin coating could advance everything from hip implants to hydraulic pumps.

The 73-year-old Masonic Temple in Downtown Dallas will soon be getting a major makeover. The building’s new owners, Stephanie and Hunter Hunt, will turn the 43,000 square foot building into a hub of creativity.

Under Obamacare, nearly every American has to have health insurance or pay a penalty. One of the few exceptions is for people who are members of what’s called “health care sharing ministries.” The two largest sharing ministries – Samaritan and Medi-Share – have both nearly doubled their membership in Texas since the Affordable Care Act.

What do candy canes, cranberry sauce and candied yams all have in common? Yes, they’re all holiday foods — but did you know they also cause bad breath? Bad breath expert Dr. Harold Katz has come up with a list of the five snacks you can avoid if you’re afraid of scaring off friends or family during the holidays.

Last minute shoppers are streaming in to Los Barrios Unidos Community Clinic in West Dallas, seeking help to enroll in health insurance before the Dec. 23 deadline — that’s the date people have to buy insurance through the federal exchange so coverage starts Jan. 1.

The annual America’s Health Rankings report for 2013 has just been released. And while it shows American’s made considerable progress in their overall health, the state of Texas still comes in in the bottom half – at number 36. The main challenges? Physical inactivity and high number of uninsured.

The human genome has been in the spotlight for nearly a decade now, but some researchers say we can learn a lot about ourselves from sequencing the genomes of other animals — like snakes. A team of scientists led by a researcher at the University of Texas at Arlington sequenced the full genome of a Burmese python for the first time, and discovered just how extreme the reptile is.

More than two million people in Texas have at some point been diagnosed with asthma. And for some of them, inhalers and medications aren’t enough to stay out of the hospital. In 2010, the FDA approved the first non-medical treatment for severe asthma that involves inserting a heated metal device into the lung to make breathing easier. About 1,000 people across the country – and dozens in Dallas – have had the procedure. Now it’s time to review.

The Texas Department of Insurance decided Friday to postpone the closure of the high-risk health insurance pool, according to the Texas Tribune. That pool serves 23,000 Texans who have trouble finding health insurance due to pre-existing health conditions, like cancer or diabetes.

North Texans got to ask an official from the National Security Agency questions about privacy last night. In part, thanks to Edward Snowden. Since the former NSA contractor began leaking classified documents showing the agency’s vast reach, officials have been trying to make their case to the public. Tuesday night the director of compliance at NSA, John DeLong visited SMU.

So who’s on healthcare.gov? Turns out it’s not just people searching for health care. The site is also attracting hackers — a Department of Homeland Security official told lawmakers there’s been “a handful” of attempts so far. National cyber security expert Fred Chang, who’s now a professor at SMU in Dallas, has been called to examine concerns about lack of privacy of users of the website.

Health technology start ups are taking off in North Texas. Entrepreneurs from across the country are coming here to take advantage of the capitol, creativity and connections between the worlds of medicine and tech.